The NYC Department of Education Loses Their Appeal To The NYS Supreme Court To Terminate Steve OstrinVery temporary New York City Department of Education "chancellor-in-name-only" Cathie Black filed an appeal to the New York State Supreme Court of the decision of Arbitrator Howard Edelman in Steve Ostrin's case of a six-month suspension without pay. The DOE asked the court to terminate him, after he retired, and after the UFT, NYSUT, and the DOE failed to respect Steve's due process rights and kept him in the rubber room for almost seven years without any evidence, and two years after his case was closed by the Gotcha Squad. Judge Saliann Scarpulla threw out the DOE appeal, furious that the Corporation Counsel, Adam Collyer, AND NYSUT attorney Oriana Vigliotti wasted the court's time. File this under "The Gotcha Squad out of control".

The NYC Department of Education Loses Their Appeal To The NYS Supreme Court To Terminate Steve Ostrinby Betsy Combier

Steve Ostrin was an excellent teacher at Brooklyn Tech High School when accused of sexual harassment in order to divert attention away from former DOE Deputy Chancellor Carmen Farina and Principal Lee McCaskill's fraudulent placing of McCaskill's daughter in a Brooklyn public school while McCaskill lived in New Jersey. Touching on the shoulder is not sexual harassment, and none of the allegations were ever substantiated by anyone....until Howard Edelman, arbitrator at 3020-a, found enough misconduct by Steve to give him a 6-month suspension without pay. No evidence supported this decision.

Steve was arrested, attacked by NYC media, and placed in the NYC rubber room at 25 Chapel Street for almost seven years. No police or DOE or City investigators and not even the Grand Jury found any evidence that the charges were valid. In 2007 Ostrin's case was dropped by the DOE Gotcha Squad, as per a memo written by former Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern. No one told Steve. So Steve sat in the rubber room until 2010, when 3020-a Arbitrator suspended him. Steve filed an Appeal of this decision in Brooklyn Supreme Court asking for complete exoneration and the overturning of a decision which had no basis. The next day Cathie Black filed an Appeal of the Edelman decision, asking for a more severe penalty, termination.

Steve gave me a copy of the memo when he filed it along with his Article 7511 appeal in Brooklyn Supreme Court, and we gave it to Sue Edelman at lunch across the street from the court. A NY POST photographer took a picture of Steve with the memo (see my previous article, re-posted below). A lawyer working for the City told me that they were furious that Steve had this memo, and they demanded to know where I got it, as it was "confidential". So I told them and wrote about it.

I and Sue Edelman at the NYPOST exposed the Ostrin case, from very different perspectives. Ms. Edelman had her photographer take a picture of Steve holding the Nadelstern memo, yet never mentioned it in her article. After the Cathie Black appeal was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, NYSUT told Steve they would defend him in Manhattan Supreme Court IF HE DROPPED HIS APPEAL IN BROOKLYN. He agreed to do this, even though it meant he would not be exonerated, as NYSUT only asked that the Edelman decision stand, and nothing more severe was ordered by the court. Steve planned to retire, and did.

After he retired, and after the UFT, NYSUT, and the DOE failed to respect Steve's due process rights by keeping him in one of the Brooklyn rubber rooms for almost seven years without any evidence, and two years after his case was closed by the Gotcha Squad, Judge Saliann Scarpulla threw out the DOE appeal, furious that the Corporation Counsel, Adam Collyer, AND NYSUT attorney Orianna Vigliotti wasted the court's time.

The day of oral argument at in Judge Scarpulla's courtroom at 60 Centre Street I arrived early, and stood a few feet away from NYSUT Attorney Vigliotti. I thought I would say hello, but she glared at me, so I stayed silent and sat down in the courtroom when the doors opened. She sat right in front of me. Adam Collyer, Corporation Counsel and representing Cathie Black, sheepishly nodded in my direction as he entered the courtroom. I have seen his improper antics trying to get the Court to listen to him before.

Judge Scarpulla is a no-nonsense judge. She was furious with the presentation of both sides at this hearing. Her anger and frustration was well-placed, as her court could do nothing about the Edelman decision because Ostrin had retired. Scarpulla questioned the rationality of bringing a lawsuit against a decision recommending a six-month suspension where she could not terminate Steve Ostrin, as the DOE wanted, nor could she overturn the six-month suspension because NYSUT did not ask for that.

Steve's appeal with the secret memo from DOE Gotcha Squad Attorneys Theresa Europe and Cheryl Smith (now Massena), which stated that as the DOE Attorneys had closed his case and saw no evidence that he had ever done anything to substantiate the charges against him and they were not going to pursue the matter, was not mentioned to Judge Scarpulla in either side's papers nor during oral argument. I think this is shocking, because neither side wanted to give Scarpulla all the information relevant to Steve's charges, yet were arguing for and against the Edelman decision, which made no sense due to the memo.

Obviously the purpose of NYSUT taking on the appeal as long as Steve dropped his Brooklyn Article 7511 and withdrew it, was to obliterate this secret memo's existence. This memo proves that NYSUT, the UFT, and the City of New York and the Gotcha Squad are wasting public money for political purposes.

Judge Scarpulla saw through the irrational pursuit of a petitioner filed against someone who was retired, but she did not bring up the Nadelstern memo, and thus it can be assumed she knew nothing about it. She was angry enough for being dragged into this even without the added information that Steve Ostrin should never have been brought to 3020-a in the first place, and NYSUT, the UFT, the NYC DOE and the City of New York all knew this.

But NYSUT, the UFT, and the DOE didnt let Steve know. He sat in the rubber room at 25 Chapel Street waiting for his 3020-a just like the other 150 people in the room. In 2009 his arbitration "trial" began, with Cheryl Smith Massena for the DOE prosecuting Steve for charges she knew were unsubstantiated. The UFT and NYSUT allowed the 3020-a to go forward even though they knew that there was no substantiation of any charges. Steve's attorney, Timothy Taylor, NYSUT Latham, not only pretended that the charges were valid, but closed the hearing after Steve demanded an open and public trial.

Steve relayed to everyone at 25 Chapel Street and to me as well (I knew Steve before I started working for the UFT in 2007) everything that went on at his 3020-a, and when he brought in the secret memo written by Eric Nadelstern, Edelman stopped the hearing, evidently, according to Steve, angry that he was duped by Cheryl Smith into believing the charges were validated by the investigators, or anyone.

Below is my previous post:

The Story of Steve Ostrin And The Violation Of His Due Process Rights By The NYC Department of Education, UFT, and NYSUTOn January 30, 2011, NYPOST reporter Sue Edelman wrote an article called "Teach Untouchable" concerning the case of former rubber roomer Steve Ostrin. I met with Sue and Steve on January 25, at Steve's request, and discussed the mess that the NYC DOE made in this matter. Steve gave Sue the "smoking gun" memo sent from Theresa Europe to former DOE official Eric Nadelstern who resigned last week, that you see Steve holding in the picture above. Steve also gave her a copy of his grievance when the DOE would not release him from the rubber room after all charges were dropped against him in 2007, he gave her the information that there was no substantiation of the charges by SCI - nor was there an investigation at all - and Steve was acquitted at the criminal trial by a jury. The NY POST chose to ignore all the facts and go with the DOE in defaming Steve once again. I see the hands of Joel Klein in this, and I look forward to a final resolution of the terrible process known as "rubberization" of tenured teachers now that NYSUT has taken on the representation in NYC Supreme Court of the Black petition.

How can I say such things? I worked as a UFT rep. for three years, hired part-time by Randi Weingarten to help her find out what was going on in public schools, assist teachers who needed advice on what to do in times of trouble, and visit the temporary re-assignment centers or "rubber rooms" to talk with the people there and find out what their cases were all about. I did my job, not knowing that they - the UFT now headed by Michael Mulgrew - did NOT want someone like me, an investigative reporter, looking into re-assigned NYC personnel, because the UFT is doing nothing to help its members, just like the DOE is throwing tenured people into the garbage.

In fact, under Bloomberg, the garbage can was at first not large enough to handle all the people principals were allowed, under color of law/rule/DOE regualtions, to throw away. So, large (and 1 small) rooms were rented or made available to the garbage teachers and these rooms became the holding pens of allegedly guilty people. Tenured teachers get "due process", or 3020 trial, an arbitration hearing 3020-a. In NYC no one gets to assist in choosing the single arbitrator who decides a case. You get the person supposedly randomly chosen to arbitrate the case that is next in line. At present there is at least one lawsuit in federal court and many in State Court on this topic, and there will be more.

As an advocate for rights, I jumped into the mud of the NYC DOE "rubberization process" as I call it, and found that the denial of rights is astonishing. Believe me, I asked why many times at the UFT, and I was told they didn't need me anymore in July, 2010. That's ok, because now I can write about what REALLY happened over the last 9 years under Mayor Bloomberg, and how the UFT, NYSUT and the NYC DOE all worked as a team in making thousands of people sick with emotional distress, without housing, medical benefits, or jobs of any kind. Not everyone that went through the rubber room ringer is innocent, but many are, and my efforts to expose this disaster with my website, blog, and my voice at the PEP Sept 2007, is for them, and all of us - our children, our way off life, and our future.

I met Steve at his rubber room, 25 Chapel Street early in 2007, and have followed his case ever since. In sum, his case is a matter of the DOE wanting a diversion from media exposure of the misconduct of Principal Lee McCaskill of Brooklyn Technical High School, and one of the most "honored" DOE officials, Deputy Chancellor Carmen Farina. The NYC DOE picked a very popular teacher to condemn to the garbage as a way of nullifying the media attacks on MacCaskill. The police arrested Steve in March 2005, he was put in prison, given a criminal trial, and his family almost dissolved while he sat for almost six years in the holding pen/garbaage can/rubber room at 25 Chapel Street, 10th floor, Brooklyn N.Y. and had the public pay his salary. No investigation ever proved he was guilty at all, no jury or District Attorney ever believed the accusations of the girl who complained about his behavior, and by all accounts Steve was on his way to being the biggest mistake the NYC DOE ever made, with the UFT approval.

Nevertheless Steve was denied representation by the New York City Law Department when Grace sued him. The City paid her to end her lawsuit....even though there was no proof that she had ever been truthful. This could have been a huge money maker for anyone, as the City didnt want to recognize that they had fallen into the trap of lying about charges, then not wanting to be held accountable for it. Only one other student took advantage of this opportunity, and got paid by the City to drop her lawsuit as well.

Until the DOE "Gotcha Squad" dug up arbitrator Howard Edelman and Attorney Timothy Taylor and put Steve on trial at 51 Chambers Street where the Administrative Trial Unit (ATU) conducts the 3020-a arbitrations for tenured teachers. I have sat in hearings when asked to observe, for almost 8 years, and I can tell you that the "due process" is a sham. More about this in another article.

After no investigation took place because no one believed that Grace Olamijulo was telling the truth - as well as her copycat colleague JH, who also got money from the City for making an accusation against Steve) - and after the Smith/Europe/Nadelstern "smoking gun" memo showed Edelman that 3020-a Attorney Cheryl Smith was lying about the charges (and Edelman was furious), Howard Edelman found Steve culpable of "...a single event in which a teacher [Ostrin] touched a student on her arm and made inappropriate comments" (Edelman award, p. 32). Edelman gave Steve the punishment of six months without pay (or medical benefits), to give a Solomonlike decision ("i.e. splitting the baby" and pleasing both the UFT and the DOE by not exonerating Steve, and thus making it look like the NYC DOE was wrongly spending public money for six years). The DOE spent more than $500,000 in this one case, to prove that Grace was right. So why was there no investigation?

Cathie Black, the new CEO of the NYC DOE, has filed a 7511 Appeal of 3020-a arbitrator Howard Edelman's decision to suspend Steve for six months without pay, she wants him terminated despite the lack of any investigation and the DA, SCI and the DOE finding the girl, Grace, not credible. Steve filed a 7511 in Brooklyn Supreme Court two days earlier, pro se (representing himself).

Below, you will hear from me about the "facts" in this case. Keep in mind while you decide for yourself what the "facts" really are, that the UFT did nothing to help Steve throughout this ordeal that almost cost him his marriage and certainly cost him his career and his well-being for six years. What the UFT and NYSUT should have done is, when all charges were dropped in 2007 and all parties found the girl to be incredible, is put Steve back in his teaching position. No one did this because, I think, all parties hate to admit error, and now the battle is on. I'm writing a book.

The real story of the Rubber Room saga of Steve Ostrin

The real story of Steve Ostrin is based upon the fact that no one believed he sexually abused any child at any time. Grace and Julie were two young women who saw an opportunity to make some money, and the City complied, because their investigators were looking into Brooklyn Tech Principal Lee McCaskill and his associate, Deputy Chancellor Carmen Farina, and they needed to divert public attention away from these two people.

After Mike Bloomberg became Mayor and took control of the public school system in 2002, he spoke often about his desire to be "The Education Mayor", the person who turned all public schools into successful mini-businesses. In this business model, teachers become workers who are easily and necessarily replaced whenever his or her performance is, according to the supervisor, "not perfect". Soon, principals and superintendents had the right to hire and/or fire anyone, at any time. Tenure, with the promise of due process for all who hold this status, was technically over.

To prove to his followers he could do whatever he promised, Mike had to get rid of "dead wood", as in senior teachers who didnt want to spend every day teaching to a test, and then testing for the test; as in senior teachers whose salary was $100,000+ ...when two younger teachers could be paid for that price; as in tenured teachers who had cancer or some debillitating injury that had to take time away from their jobs; and so on.

Principals began to throw teachers out of their positions quickly and for no reason, or for a reason that would have incurred only a counseling memo or letter to file in previous years. For example, if you were a caring teacher and a student was crying and you gave them a hug, you became a "sexual pervert" and were removed from your job; if a student made an effort to do well and you were so happy that you tapped the student on the shoulder and said "well done!" you will be arrested for corporal punishment and led out of the school in handcuffs, in front of your students and reporters from the New York Post or Daily News, called ahead of time to get the picture. Who replaced you? A substitute teacher, someone who probably couldn't teach the curriculum.

Where did the miscreant teacher go, while the NYC DOE "proved" his or her "guilt"? The 'rubber room' or re-assignment center. In 2007 there were seven large rooms in all boroughs - Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Harlem, Bronx, Washington Heights, Brooklyn; then, in 2008 another, small room was opened, also in Brooklyn (355 Park Place, basement). This was, in my opinion, a huge error. When 100+ adults are in a room every day and are told to sit and not talk to anyone about his or her case, that is exactly what the conversations will be about. And I was the UFT "rubber room girl" hired part-time by Randi Weingarten to listen, and to find out what was going on, and try to do something about it. I kept complaining about the situation but stayed 3 years, until the rooms were closed.

The other factor that plays into understanding how the rubber rooms were opened and stayed open until July 2010 is, principals were told by hire-ups to get rid of anyone who blew the whistle on school finances, corruption, violations of law, etc., and they - the "higher-ups" and their 'helpers' - would receive immunity from prosecution. In other words, if the administrators played their parts well, and got rid of anyone who did not meet the corporate criteria, no one would be able to hold them accountable for anything. The Corporation Counsel protects all of these people until there is some exposure of what they did. Then, the person "resigns" (and is moved to another job).

It was in this environment of terror, destruction of innocent lives, and lies that the case of Steve Ostrin began, and circumstances made this case a perfect storm of injustice..The school where Steve Ostrin taught for 18 years and where he was considered one of the "best teachers ever", Brooklyn Technical High School, or "Brooklyn Tech", is one of the Specialized High Schools of New York City. You can get in if you score high enough on the SHSAT (Specialized High School Admissions Test). Lee McCaskill, the Principal of Brooklyn Tech in 2004, felt uncomfortable. He and Steve had a 'contentious' relationship, and he, McCaskill, was beginning to worry that his cover would be blown. McCaskill had made a deal with then Deputy Chancellor (former District 15 Superintendent Carmen Farina) to put his daughter into a highly regarded public school in D15, even though McCaskill lived in New Jersey. This is against the law in New York State. Mrs. McCaskill also worked for the NYC DOE at Boys and Girls High School, a school in Brooklyn, but she resigned.

When the investigation into Lee McCaskill started heating up, the NYC DOE decided it was time to delay and obstruct the public's view of the crimes of Lee McCaskill and Carmen Farina, one of their "best" administrators (she brought in and supported Diana Lam):

WAVES OF TURMOIL are threatening to undermine the once-impeccable reputation of Brooklyn Technical High School - one of the city's most prestigious public schools.

Brooklyn Tech's tradition of excellence already has been sullied from a long-running battle between many respected teachers and Principal Lee McCaskill.

But the war inside the Fort Greene school is boiling over now with public charges of crass behavior, censorship, harassment and questionable management decisions.

Teachers have fled to other respected schools. Parents are trying to figure out what to believe. And perhaps most unsettling, Brooklyn Tech's students say they feel the tension.

A senior, who asked to be identified only as Eric, said he witnessed Assistant Principal Tracy Atkins-Zoughlami engage in a screaming match with two deans in the hallway.

"It was disturbing and unprofessional," the 17-year-old said. The student also claimed McCaskill once called a group of media students "dumb-asses."

McCaskill's detractors have no shortage of complaints about him and the school where he has worked since the late 1980s.

Brooklyn Tech has not published a student newspaper in more than a year because McCaskill had so heavily censored it - once destroying 4,000 copies - that no teacher will serve as an adviser, instructors charged.

For the last two months, 32 new computers have sat covered in plastic, unused because the room isn't properly wired.

The school radio room is packed with outdated equipment and has been shut down for 20 years even though a teacher secured a $10,000 grant. Teachers want to know what happened to that money.

Many instructors also claim McCaskill rules with an iron fist - often targeting outspoken veterans and treating students like prisoners instead of prodigies.

But Education Department brass insist McCaskill is maintaining excellence at the school and adamantly support him.

Deputy Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina called the charges a "union ploy to pick on a particular principal who exercises his right" to give teachers unfavorable reviews. "He does what he feels like he needs to do to make the teachers the best possible," Farina said.

Education Department officials promised a student paper would be up and running by next year. They vowed to send in engineers to fix the computer room and said the radio equipment is owned by WNYE.

It remains one of the city's most difficult schools to get into, enrolling about 4,500 students and boasting a 95% graduation rate.

But Brooklyn Tech traditionally has trailed behind Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School and the Bronx High School of Science in terms of popularity among top students, said Pamela Wheaton of Advocates for Children.

"When parents choose a school like Brooklyn Tech, they choose the name, not the principal," Wheaton said.

McCaskill could not be reached for comment because he was in North Carolina last week for the funeral of his nephew, who was killed in Iraq.

The most recent edition of the teachers union's newspaper included a supercritical article about him and the school, referring to it as Brooklyn "wreck." It marked the latest - and harshest - assault on McCaskill.

Just three years ago, he was accused of sending obscene E-mails to teachers. A city investigation concluded that some of the messages had been sent by his brother and others seemed to be authored by a hacker.

The allegations were among a long list of accusations against McCaskill over the last decade, including playing favorites with job assignments and faking timecards for friends.

In the last four years, a third of Brooklyn Tech's nearly 40-teacher English Department has left, according to English teacher Daniel Baldwin. "There used to be an almost cultish devotion to teaching at Tech," he said. "Teachers would come here and they wouldn't leave. Now there is a revolving door."

But Jean Claude Bizard, the local instructional supervisor, attributed the turnover to retirements - and backed McCaskill.

"Tech has students who are demanding and parents who expect the best from teachers," he said. "So he has to have high standards and quite frankly some teachers can't handle it."

The parents association vice president, Teresa Mule, also defended McCaskill. "The principal's motto is, 'If things aren't done the right way, they aren't done,' . . . and that is a positive thing," she said.

Yet several well-regarded city schools have been thrilled to hire Brooklyn Tech's castoffs.

In a particularly notable case, veteran teacher Todd Friedman took a job at Midwood High School after McCaskill barred him from teaching the book "Continental Drift" in 2002. The book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, but McCaskill called it sexually explicit and unacceptable.

Friedman is being honored this week with the New York Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Award for fighting McCaskill over the censorship.

"People don't generally want to leave a good school like Brooklyn Tech, but McCaskill and Tracy Atkins-Zoughlami are breaking the morale," Friedman said. "That's why many teachers have left."

klucadamo@nydailynews.com

The NYC DOE decided to go after popular teacher Steve Ostrin. On March 2, 2005, a student in Steve's class, Grace Olamijulo, accused Ostrin of making remarks to her that she thought were sexually harassing.

On March 4, 2005 Ostrin was removed from his school and sent to 131 Livingston Street and then to 25 Chapel Street in Brooklyn, where he remained until the rubber rooms were closed, July 2010. (He was then sent to another location to sit and await the arbitrator's decision in the 3020-a arbitration, which he received at the very end of December 2010).

On Sunday March 20, 2005 detectives from the 88th precinct came to Steve's home, and in front of his wife and two small children arrested him for "endangering the welfare of a child and harassment in the second degree".

On February 10, 2006 Steve was acquitted of all charges after a trial by jury in criminal court. Lee McCaskill testified, then resigned later the same day. Steve remained in the Brooklyn rubber room. No charges were brought by the NYC DOE until May 11, 2007, after Steve asked for Attorney fees for his paying of the attorneys in the criminal trial. This set off a firestorm because the NYC DOE did not want to pay Steve's legal costs.

On February 5, 2007 Steve was told to go to the Leon Goldstein High School For Sciences, as he was cleared. On February 6, 2007 counsel for NYSUT (the legal arm of the UFT) received an email from Theresa Europe, Attorney of the Administrative Trials Unit or "Gotcha Squad", saying that the ATU Was not going forward with charges, and Steve was no longer on the ineligible list. He filed a grievance (2/15/07) based upon Article 21G(4) of the DOE/UFT contract that states:

...the employee will be restored to service no later than 6 months from the date of his/her removal unless 3020a charges have been preferred against the employee (remember, none had been filed). Yet Marcel Kshensky denied the grievance, the very same Marcel Kshensky who is currently being sued in Federal Court for racial discrimination. (See Marcel Kshensky)

Kshensky denied the grievance, saying that there was an internal investigation being conducted by the DOE - but there was no investigation. (April 17, 2007)

On May 8, 2008, Steve was brought to a probable cause hearing with Arbitrator Martin Scheinman. Scheinman ruled that Steve could not be removed from payroll because "...Probable cause cannot be established where it is based upon an alleged felony committed on school property or while in the performance of teaching duties as to which a criminal court have ruled Respondent not guilty."....Respondent was not found guilty of criminal charges that were based upon the very same factual allegations set forth in the Specifications against Respondent and on which the Department bases its probable cause request."

The matter was referred to the ATU, who, according to Theresa Europe, were closing the case. Lee McCaskill resigned his position in order to thwart criminal charges, and the investigators were very angry:

February 15, 2006Investigator Rebukes City Schools Over Retirement of a Principal By ELISSA GOOTMAN, NY TIMES

The special commissioner of investigation for the city school system rebuked the Department of Education yesterday for allowing the principal of Brooklyn Technical High School to retire days before the completion of an investigation into his daughter's improper enrollment in a Brooklyn elementary school.The commissioner, Richard J. Condon, included the criticism in a report describing a web of deception by the principal, Lee D. McCaskill, and his wife, a teacher at another Brooklyn school, to hide the fact that they lived in New Jersey. The report said the couple had submitted a friend's Brooklyn address to get their daughter into the well-regarded Public School 29 in Cobble Hill without paying the tuition required of noncity residents. When faced with an investigation, Mr. Condon said, they gave contradictory testimony and submitted fake leases and other misleading documents to create the impression that they lived at the Brooklyn address.Mr. Condon said it "was not prudent" for education officials "to enter into a settlement with Lee McCaskill before it could consider our findings." He said that since the Education Department did not wait for the investigation's results, "we can only note that McCaskill should be placed on the ineligible list and barred from future employment" i